The American Executive

1
The American Executive

• A clerkship?

2
Founding of the Presidency

• Fears of executive power
• Fears of chaos from weak executive
• Founders disagreed about how powerful the
  president should be

3
Opposition to the executive

• Your president may easily become a King. If your
  American chief be a man of ambition, how easy it
  is for him to render himself absolute The army
  is in his hands, and if he be a man of address it
  will be attached to himand what have you to
  oppose this force? What will then become of you
  and your rights? Will not absolute despotism
  ensue?
• --Patrick Henry, opposing ratification by the
  state of Virginia

4
Hamiltons Defense

• Energy in the executive is a leading character
  in the definition of good government. It is
  essential to the protection of the community
  against foreign attacks it is not less essential
  to the steady administration of the laws to the
  protection of propertyto the security of liberty
  against the enterprises and assaults of ambition,
  faction and anarchy.
• Federalist Papers No. 70

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Founding of the Presidency

• Fears of executive power
• Fears of chaos from weak executive
• Founders disagreed about how powerful the
  president should be
• Result vague, shared presidential powers

6
The Presidents Constitutional Powers

• The President shall be Commander in Chief of the
  Army and Navy of the United States, and of the
  Militia of the several States, when called into
  the actual Service of the United States
• he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the
  principal Officer in each of the executive
  Departments, upon any Subject relating to the
  Duties of their respective Offices
• he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and
  Pardons for Offences against the United States,
  except in Cases of Impeachment.

• He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and
  Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided
  two thirds of the Senators present concur and he
  shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and
  Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors,
  other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the
  supreme Court, and all other Officers of the
  United States, whose Appointments are not herein
  otherwise provided for, and which shall be
  established by Law
• he shall receive Ambassadors and other public
  Ministers
• he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully
  executed,
• and shall Commission all the Officers of the
  United States
• --Article II, US Constitution

7
Qualified veto power

• Every Bill which shall have passed the House of
  Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it
  become a Law, be presented to the President of
  the United States If he approve he shall sign
  it, but if not he shall return it, with his
  Objections to that House in which it shall have
  originated, who shall enter the Objections at
  large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider
  it.If after such Reconsideration two thirds of
  that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall
  be sent, together with the Objections, to the
  other House, by which it shall likewise be
  reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of
  that House, it shall become a Law.
• (No line item veto)

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Power to suggest

• He shall from time to time give to the Congress
  Information of the State of the Union, and
  recommend to their Consideration such Measures as
  he shall judge necessary and expedient
• (Art. II Sect. 3).

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Historical Debates Over Presidential Powers

• Can the president declare neutrality?
• When can the president veto a bill?
• Does the president have extra-constitutional
  powers?
• Can the president initiate hostilities without
  asking Congress?

10
Misconceptions

• Bill Clinton
• I think I have a big responsibility to
  appropriately consult with Members of Congress in
  both partieswhenever we are in the process of
  making a decision which might lead to the use of
  force. But I think that, clearly, the
  Constitution leaves the president, for good and
  sufficient reasons, the ultimate decision making
  authority.
• The authority under which air strikes can
  proceed, acting out of area pursuant to UN
  authority, requires the common agreement of our
  NATO allies.

11
Richard Neustadt

• The constitutional presidency is a clerkship
• Presidential power is the power to persuade
• The power to persuade is the power to bargain

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Neustadts argument

• The president cant command others
• A command is a failure of leadership

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Why persuasion is necessary

• When one man shares authority with another, but
  does not gain or lose his job upon the others
  whim, his willingness to act upon the urging of
  the other turns on whether he conceives the
  action to be right for him. The essence of a
  Presidents persuasive task is to convince such
  men that what the White House wants of them is
  what they ought to do for their sake and on their
  authority.
• --Neustadt, Presidential Power, P. 30

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Two resources to make persuasion effective

• Professional reputation
• Public prestige

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Sources of Presidential Power

• The Constitution
• Congress
• Courts
• Political parties
• Bureaucracy
• The public
• The media
• International affairs and events
• Skill bargaining

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Constraints on Presidential Power

• The Constitution
• Congress
• Courts
• Political parties
• Federalism
• Bureaucracy
• The public
• The media
• International affairs and events
• Skill bargaining

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